Many parents feel frustrated or discouraged by IEP assessments. Standardized tests often don’t give a clear picture of children with more complex needs, especially when issues with communication or motor skills make it hard to see how they learn best. There’s a different approach called "dynamic assessment," which is a strength- and process-based, interactive assessment method which focuses more on how children learn over time, and their potential to learn. But it’s still not very well-known among many school psychologists.
We spoke to Lucia Serio, LEP, NCSP, a licensed educational psychologist and nationally certified school psychologist and the owner of Bookworm Educational and Psychological Services Incorporated, to find out how dynamic assessment can make a difference to your child’s IEP.
Dynamic assessment is different from standardized methods of assessment in that the goal is not to compare standardized scores with a norm of a particular age group, but instead to explore a child’s learning process and which aspects of learning require support or intervention. Serio tells us that this approach is grounded in the understanding that you can learn more about a child's cognitive development by working with them in a collaborative way rather than by assessing what they can do independently (and with a relative stranger in an unfamiliar setting). “There's a level of interdependence that it is examining in the process, versus always focusing on the level of independence that the individual has. So it's a little more realistic to teaching and what you are doing in a classroom in comparison to some of our standardized assessment measures,” Serio says.
Dynamic assessment is not a specific test, however — it's more of a research approach to assessment. But there are dynamic assessment tools that have been developed by researchers such as Dr. Mogans Jensen, who developed the mind ladder, as well as Dr. Fraser Lachlan and Dr. Karen from Dynamic Assessment UK, a certification program that's endorsed by the British Psychological Association. Dynamic assessment looks at particular skills and what types of activities will actually help the assessor probe situations and opportunities to look at those skills. Serio uses logic games, hands-on activities, novel tasks, problem-solving tasks, and matching games. These activities look at strategizing, but it's more about looking at the interaction. Serio tells us that dynamic assessment is grounded in Vygotsky’s theory, often known as Zones of Proximal Development, which explores levels that a child can achieve when given assistance, rather than what they can do on their own.
Despite being seen as a new idea in the world of public education, dynamic assessment is backed by a body of research from psychologists such as Dr. Carl Haywood, and Dr. Carol Lids. The idea of dynamic assessment is particularly associated with research on multilingual learners, a focus in the Berkeley School Psychology program. Just as dynamic testing can be used to overcome the challenges of multilingual learners, it might also be useful in overcoming the challenges of assessing kids who don’t respond to the format of standardized assessments.
Can dynamic assessments and standardized assessments be used together?
In a nutshell, yes, However, Serio recognizes that school psychologists might be limited by district policies to complete a standardized battery of tests that can yield important information. Parents can request dynamic assessment as an alternative or supplement to standardized testing, though approval varies by school district; some school districts might not be on board with this. If the school insists on standardized testing, parents might negotiate to have both assessments. This can provide a broader understanding of the child’s strengths and needs, satisfying the school’s requirements while also giving parents valuable, practical insights.
As Serio explains, “That's not to say that you couldn't use standardized tools that you might already be using and also do dynamic testing with them.” For example, you’re using a standardized measure and there's a particular activity, instruction, or task that maybe the student is just not understanding. In this case, Serio says, “I might discontinue the test. Sure, the school is going to want me to report on what the score was without support, but I might go back and try to understand what the student can do if I just give a little bit of support with learning in dynamic assessment — we call it mediated learning strategies, so it's like scaffolding or what level of help am I providing? Am I using modeling? Am I giving a visual cue? Am I breaking down the task for them? Just to get a little bit more information about what supports that student actually responds to.”
And it depends on the child. Serio tells us that with students who may not respond to standardized tests at all, she will sometimes use a dynamic assessment throughout the entire testing process. But for other students who can participate in standardized testing, dynamic assessment can be another opportunity to get data and Information. So for a school psychologist, dynamic assessment could be supplementary. “I always encourage them to look at getting information in a different way, because part of what I think we should be doing in testing is looking at what accommodations and supports are more appropriate. So this gives an opportunity to establish rapport with a more fun and engaging activity than a standardized test, but you're actually providing opportunities to test out different levels of support and see what the student responds to.”
Who is qualified to do a dynamic assessment?
There is no specific requirement or professional certification for dynamic assessment, although some school psych programs do have a course embedded into their program (Serio completed the Dynamic Assessment UK program). It can be any practitioner, as long as it's in their scope of practice or learning. Dynamic assessment strategies and techniques can be implemented in any area of practice, although possibly most often in speech and language therapy and increasingly with educational psychologists.
Serio explains that dynamic assessment can be valuable as a part of any assessment, including ones that are looking at skill development. And while it's great for all students, it’s particularly beneficial for specific populations of students. She says, “If we're looking at who would benefit most, it’s students that don't quite fit into testing norms. For example, students with more complex learning profiles, or students that are harder to test. I get a lot of assessments where students maybe haven't actually been tested for years because no one has been able to implement a standardized test, so they kind of stop there. So I'm coming in and looking at, well, let's get creative with our approach. Let's try something different. Because not having enough information is just as unhelpful as having only standardized information that isn’t going to be an accurate or good measure of the student's ability.”
Dynamic assessment offers meaningful benefits for kids with disabilities in school, making it far more than just a "nice to have." Here’s why it matters:
Many families are looking for an alternative to standardized cognitive tests like IQ tests, especially when it comes to children from diverse linguistic or cultural backgrounds, those with learning disabilities, or children whose skills may not be fully captured in a standard IQ test setting. Serio explains that it is difficult to use dynamic assessment to estimate cognition level, such as finding a student eligible for an IEP under the ‘Intellectual Disability’ category. While one can get an idea of skills within cognition, many school districts will look for an IQ number as well as the standard deviation from the average, and dynamic assessment is not going to yield those numbers.
What it can do is help us explore fluid reasoning, which consists of solving new problems independent of previous knowledge because, in school, that's what students are often asked to do. Serio explains, “If we're estimating cognition, we have other tools and review of records and looking at history to help us identify those things. But what I will say, in terms of eligibility determination and looking at cognition as a whole, is that dynamic assessment gives us an opportunity to explore what I think clinically to be one of the most important aspects of cognition, which is fluid reasoning.” Dynamic assessment does capture a lot of those skills that are also captured in standardized testing but in more natural, school-related ways. Dynamic assessment looks at pattern recognition, problem-solving, strategizing, cognitive flexibility, changing approaches to new problems, drawing conclusions, and inductive and deductive reasoning.
Dynamic assessment and IQ tests
For some parents, the idea of a single type of intelligence, such as an IQ test, is scientifically flawed. Others may be concerned that their child’s communication and behavioral skills are likely to impede any real assessment of their cognitive abilities. IQ tests have also been historically racist and biased toward labeling African-American children with intellectual disability. In California, schools are prohibited from using certain standardized tests for assessing African American students for an IEP, based on a legal case known as Larry P. v. Riles.
For African American students and other groups that don't conform to the normative sample, it is possible to utilize existing tests in a way that is culturally relevant and provides accurate diagnostic insights. A dynamic assessment approach can minimize some of the biases in standardized tests, offering a clearer picture of skill ability rather than fixed cognitive scores. One of the tests often used for African American children in California, or for families who do not want an IQ test, is the Southern California Ordinal Scales, which focuses on observing a child’s learning process and adaptability through interactive, tailored tasks.
Serio explains that while this is considered to be a dynamic assessment, it also includes a criterion comparison to Piaget’s developmental stages, which can be a little tricky, she finds. “It's also very old. However, I think because of the way that our system is set up and the expectations that we have on school psychologists to adhere to legally defensiveness around their reports, sometimes it's easy to get stuck in that track of numbers. The ordinal scales will yield numbers around developmental stage, versus what truly a dynamic assessment is doing is breaking away from the numbers and really providing some qualitative description around what is working and where the student has strengths and areas of need.”
Dynamic assessment for learning disabilities
Many parents also find standardized tests used in assessing specific learning disabilities (SLDs) such as dyslexia and dyscalculia. Serio says that when looking at the criteria and how students qualify for learning disability, we still need to consider processing areas, and those are things we can still embed into our assessment procedures.
In California, SLDs are often identified as eligible for IEPs using a discrepancy model, in which specific challenges such as reading or number sense are identified as anomalies in contrast to the student’s intellectual skills in other areas. The problem with this model is that many students with communication challenges or mild intellectual challenges might also require interventions designed for students with specific learning disabilities.
In evaluating learning disabilities, dynamic assessment aligns well with the Response to Intervention (RTI) model, providing a non-traditional approach that is potentially more meaningful than the discrepancy model, but takes a lot longer. A district may use RTI to assess whether a child needs “a little extra help” or may have a learning disability. In this case, the district may provide intervention such as a supplementary or pull-out reading program for a period of six to eight weeks and then test to establish the effectiveness for the student. Note that there is no reason why utilizing RTI should prevent a district from also assessing for an IEP in a timely manner.
In Serio’s experience, she says, “If we look at what are the ways in which we're identifying learning disability, which is either via discrepancy mode,l or patterns of strengths and weaknesses, or response to intervention, I think dynamic assessment, if it's implemented right, can be a great way to start looking at Response to Intervention over time. And really, identifying learning disability in a way that's outside of that traditional discrepancy model, which, by the way, the research is not strong in either. So it's one of those really tricky situations, but it is a creative way to examine and gather information that looks different.”
Dynamic assessment is a strength-based approach that looks at what a child can do with the right supports. Unlike standard tests, this approach highlights how your child adapts and learns with each session, giving a real-time picture of their development. Serio says, “It's trying to capture the profile of the student, rather than trying to fit the profile of the student and compare it to another pre-identified profile. It's not trying to create goals around norms. It's trying to create goals around the dynamic learner. I do think a dynamic assessment could fit beautifully into a neuro-affirming assessment approach as well.” You can learn more about neuro-affirming assessments in our article IEP Assessments 101.
Serio adds that most dynamic assessments recognize students as adaptable learners capable of growth even within a single session, rather than assuming learning is a fixed process. Outside of the context of school-based assessment, Serio is able to use dynamic assessment as a tool or a response to intervention, which, by assessing a child's progress over time and evaluating their response to targeted interventions, can help IEP teams gather evidence of learning difficulties and determine if additional support through an IEP is necessary.
If you’re interested in dynamic assessment for your child, here are some tips to help get things moving:
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